A Christmas in 8 Parts
by ImaginaryFlyingMachines
Summary: Set during the holiday season. A small glimpse into 8 different perspectives on the Christmas season.


_**1.**_ The weather was fairly decent as far as the second week of December was concerned. A light dusting of snow drifted down from a grey sky, covering the ground in a soft white blanket. The tracker was currently enjoying the alone time he was currently spending aimlessly wandering down Knockturn alley. This time he wasn't tracking down any fugitives or escaped slaves. This time, Teague was tracking something else, something entirely more difficult. The perfect gifts. For some reason or another, the tracker felt inclined to get something for the very, very few people he considered important to him this year. Cora and Sienna had been fairly easy; Trevor on the other hand, was proving to be rather difficult. Hands in pockets, the tracker continued his leisurely pace, stopping to peer in shop windows as things caught his interest.

Outside one shop the tracker noticed a small boy eying something threw the window, so he stopped and stood next to the kid, trying to figure out what had captured his interest. **"What ya looking at kid?"** the tracker queried. The kid didn't break his gaze from what he was looking at and instead pointed to what looked to be a wizard chess set that was decked out in bright colors and had various magical creatures as playing pieces.

**"Why don't you get your parents to buy it for ya?"**

**"Don't got any..."**

**"Ya gotta have someone..?"**

**"Nope, just me."**

The tracker pulled his gaze away from the window and looked at the scruffy boy a few moments and offered the kid a shrug before deciding to go in and check out the rest of the shops wares. Inside was full of interesting odds and ends and after browsing and poking about for 15 minutes or so the tracker had resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't be leaving empty handed. Slapping a fair amount of galleons on the counter the tracker tucked his purchases inside his robe and headed out, still in search of that last elusive gift. On the way out he noticed the scruffy kid was still eying the chess set in the window. **"Hey, kid!"** The kid turned his attention to the tracker, a quizzical expression on his face. Teague reached inside his robe and pulled out a small box and tossed it to the kid with a smirk before turning and heading on his way. The tracker didn't need to see the kids face to know his eyes would be wide and that an excited smile would have made its way onto his face once he realized he was now holding the same chess set from the window.

**_2._** He let out a very undignified and rather girly shriek as he dove behind a snow bank in hope to avoid the barrage of snowballs that were being thrown his way. Having just got home from work he could honestly say that was the last thing he'd been expecting. He knew Kerstin said if he was late for supper he'd regret it, but honestly he didn't think she sic their two monsters on him. And besides, he was one 25 minutes late! Markus poked the top of his head over the bank, looking for any potential targets bobbing around the snow forts and walls that currently made up the front yard. He grinned when he finally spotted Christof ducking behind the corner of one fort and quickly squished together his own snowball. If they wanted a war, well then far be it from him to deny them.

He belly crawled along the snow bank, keeping low and out of sight. Once he was where he figured the boys would be hiding he popped up, arm cocked and ready to throw, only what he thought had been Christof hiding behind one fort turned out to be Christof's toque shoved onto one hastily made snowman._ Clever little buggers..._ He supposed that's what he got for raising both a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw.

A small crunching sound followed by a loud thud and a stream of curses had him snapping his head to the left just in time to receive one well aimed slush ball to the side of the head (one he figured that was originally aimed at the back of his head and thrown just as the kid fell). He staggered sideways slightly and felt the unpleasant wetness of slush and snow dripping down the back of his jacket collar. Any stream of curses he was about to let loose were stemmed as a loudish battle cry that only an eleven year old could make signaled the presence of his youngest son. And even though he knew it was coming, Markus wasn't quite quick enough to brace for the flying tackle Erik made as he came over top the snow bank. The pair landed in a cloud of soft powdery snow amongst a fit of laughter.

**"Some Guard you make dad! Getting trounced by an eleven year old!"**

Markus chuckled as he rolled Erik off of him and proceeded to give the kid a face wash, grin widening when Christof came charging in (intent on saving his little brother from his untimely fate) for a sideways tackle, sending the whole pile rolling through the snow. The trio played for what was probably a good 15 minutes before they broke apart, all breathing fairly heavily, sopping wet, and goofy grins plastered on all their faces. It was little moments like these that made Markus the happiest.

He was about to ask the boys when their mum wanted them all in for supper when he was yet again, nailed in the back of the head by a wonderful slush ball, much to the joy and laughter of his two boys. He turned toward the direction the slushy projectile came from with a scowl that quickly turned into a grin at seeing his lovely wife leaning up against the door frame with her own mirth filled smile. **"Get in here boys, or supper will be cold by the time we get to it! And if you clean up nice I might be willing to let you open a present early!"** Yup, times like these he wouldn't trade for the world.

_**3.**_ It felt so good to have the wind ruffling his fur and his pack mates running beside him. Sure they weren't back at home yet, just holing up in a forested area outside of London for the time being until Mae was fit for travel, but still, it had been a long time since the pack had been together. It had taken them a long time to finally find her but now that they had, the young Garou considered it the best early Christmas present ever. His sister was back and even though it was taking a lot of work to get her back into her normal feisty self, she was coming along well, something that was clearly evident in the new jaw mark he had on his left wrist, after pushing her a little too hard and out and out calling her a sissy. Of course that hadn't sat well and well...

Having Lain and Corc around also was a blessing in disguise. Even though he ranked above his fellow Garou in pack structure, Soren had always looked to Lain as an older brother of sorts. His fellow Garou always seemed to know how to cheer him up when needed, or when to knock him off his holier than though pedestal. The older Garou was also able to hold his own for the most part when they fought, giving Soren an outlet of sorts when his rage got the better of him. Lain could give as good as he got that was for sure.

Then there was Corc, his dad and pack Alpha. Everything felt infinitely safer when the Alpha was around and helped lend a sense of calm after the events of Mae's kidnapping. As kiddish as it sounded, and even if he had aspirations to kill Corc and take his place, Soren enjoyed the man's presence and took joy in the little things. His old man hardly ever showed emotion, and even less the fact that he cared about anyone other than himself. To any outside the pack, Corc would seem the typical tyrant. And yes, more often than not he could be a total hard ass, but the small fanged grins every now and again, the puffed out chest when one of the pack did something right, an almost kind work followed by some constructive criticism and an affectionate pat on rare occasion proved otherwise.

Soren watched his pack brother with steely grey eyes as he bound down the side of a hill, his white coat blending in with the snow and making almost impossible to keep track of him with eyes alone. The Beta turned to where the giant forms of Corc and Mae were both sitting before turning back toward where Lain had disappeared, his inner wolf wanting to do nothing more than play. He was off like a shot, an excited bark escaping as he perused Lain; eventually catching up to the older Garou and taking him out with a well placed tackle, and it wasn't long before Mae joined the fray. The trio played and fought under the watchful gaze of the Alpha until the twilight hours of the morning. If this was what it was going to be like when they all got to finally go home and see the rest of the pack at the end of next week, Soren couldn't wait.

_**4.**_ He grabbed a bottle of vodka before making his way out of the Riordan's safe house, cloak thrown on half hazardly and a scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. Vodka wasn't his favored drink, but considering the circumstances he figured beggars couldn't be choosers and that something was much better than nothing. Cesare let out a small sigh before flopping down in a snow bank and unscrewed the cap on his bottle and took a good swig, the burn and taste of the alcohol causing him to make a slight face. In truth, over the past year, the SAVIOR agent had come to hate holidays, especially those in which family gatherings were important. Case in point Christmas. This would be his second Christmas without knowing what had happened to his family, and it was just as hard as the first one.

Normally he'd have busied himself with missions, but since everyone was too focused on celebrating the holidays to get much done, he had resigned himself to the fact that he would just have to deal with the accursed holiday. Ces took another sip from the bottle and looked up into the rapidly darkening sky. He was sure by the end of the night he'd be frozen, what with sitting out in the snow and all but he didn't really care. The cold and the wet helped to remind him that he was alive, that he could still feel things, even if at times he wished he didn't.

Cesare turned his head to the side when he heard the crunch of snow under foot and let out a startled undignified squeak when something brushed against his face, dropping the half drank bottle and scrambling over the edge of the bank. Once his brain had a chance to catch up with what had just happened he peeked over the edge and let out a relieved chuckle. It was a small ruffled looking barn owl and it had a message attached to its leg. He reached over the back and took the small message and he was pretty sure had he not been half cut his jaw would have hit the ground. Turning back toward the safe house he couldn't help but crack a smile at Carrie and her husband as they waved at him, motioning for him to come back to the festivities. Go figure that they would send him an owl as opposed to just coming out and telling him to quit moping. He shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. They may not be his real family but they were still family all the same. Getting up, he dusted himself off and headed back inside.

**_5._ **The professor had been in a joyous mood as of late. It may have been due to the fact that during the last few days leading up to Christmas break nothing horrible had happened in any of his classes, which was always a bonus. Another contributing factor could have also been that he'd dropped off presents yesterday for both Renn and Elise, and then spent a joyous day with them before heading back to Hogwarts to do some last minute packing for the week long jaunt to Kiel with Milo. In fact, this was probably the most excited he'd been in ages about traveling. It wasn't often he had someone that was willing to put up with him long enough to even think about traveling with him. Not only would he be spending a week away from students, he'd also get a nice break from his family who were under the assumption he drew the short end of the straw and was stuck at Hogwarts over the break.

Needless to say Dresden was in a fine mood as he wandered down the various halls of Hogwarts, dropping of various presents for all his friends. Sure no one had asked for anything but Dres being Dres, went out a got things for them anyway fully expecting nothing in return. He'd bought Gideon a new set of Dragon Scale Quidditch boots and a new Quaffle. For Jasper, a couple of fairly hard to get potions books; Urania, a box of frogs and other various sweets as well as a book on practical jokes (something he hoped he wouldn't regret later); Jaleth got two bottles of whiskey and a box of frogs (Dres figured since he helped the man drink the stuff on more than one occasion he could at least help replenish the supply). Milo's present however he was quite proud of and it had taken him quite some time to make.

It was quite similar to the cursed muggle Rubik's cube he had received earlier in the year from one of his colleagues. Nasty little device if Dres had anything to say about it. For every wrong sequence made, a random curse would hit the player. Ingeniously done, and if the Dark Art's professor had learned anything from that ordeal, it was how to cast shields on the fly and at ridiculously fast speeds. This cube however had been geared more towards Arithmancy and algorithmic equations, something he figured his friend would be good at. And the thing would still zap whoever got the sequence wrong. Endless hours of entertainment needless to say. Once his last gift had been left in Milo's office Dres headed back toward his rooms with every intent to finish packing only to be distracted by what sounded to be a highly entertaining game of exploding snap.

_**6.**_ For it being Christmas eve, even Sebastian had to admit the place was packed. So much for sneaking out a bit early to enjoy the evening. If he wasn't mistaken, he figured most of the staff would be stuck here until close, not that he minded. It wasn't like he had anywhere to be in particular tonight. Tomorrow on the other hand he was to meet with his brother Lucian for lunch. Normally lunch wasn't a huge cause for celebration, but this time around it meant a little bit more to the bartender. He hadn't seen his brother in well over a year, not since he had joined up with SAVIOR. It would be good to finally catch up.

Once lunch was done he'd hop on over to his parents flat for a short visit before heading out to meet up with a few contacts, one of which supposedly had a lead on a very rare magical item Bast had been looking for, for the better part of the past two years. It might take a bit of work to extract the item as it was rumored to be the prominent feature in some muggles art collection, but once he had it…. Merry Christmas to himself!

He chuckled to himself as he kept a watchful eye on a couple of drunk brutes that seemed to have started a slight shoving match. Never a dull moment in the life of a Lure bartender that was for sure. His attention was pulled away from the pair as another drink order came in and he set to work, only sparing a quick glance and a brief smile as the sound of a glass bottle making contact with the side of a head, followed by a large body hitting the ground and the commotion resulting.

_**7.**_ It was tempting not to just roll over and go right back to bed, but considering it was Christmas morning the young Slytherin decided that he may as well get up and enjoy the quiet while he could. He wasn't in any rush; it wasn't like he'd have any presents to open or anything. His grandparents didn't celebrate the holiday and his father… well his father had never given him anything, ever, so the Subaru would have been surprised if the man just up and decided to start now.

Once dressed the Slytherin gave a fairly large yawn before heading down to the Great Hall, a small well worn chess set tucked under one arm, for some breakfast. He knew there would be at least a few others that would be staying over the holiday, perhaps a familiar face even. Yes the hall was fairly empty now, except for a few students; Subaru just figured they were all still opening presents and the like. Either way, the young Slytherin figured he could find someone who would be interested in playing a game or two, be it fellow student, housemate, or professor. If not, well, there was always the library to hide out in.

_**8.** _Christmas. What an over-rated holiday. Nothing good had ever come out of it, though the teen did remember celebrating it in one form or another a couple of times with his dad while they were on the run. Since then though, Jules had seen it as only another day of misery in a long line of days of misery. And this year was shaping up to be no different. It had been almost four months since he had first been taken. After the first couple of months, he had given up on anyone ever finding him and sometime within the last two, had come to see Trevor as more of a friend rather than "that bastard". It was kind hard to really hate someone who seemed to go out of his way to make you feel wanted and go out of his way to help you out.

The Christmas festivities had been in full swing for the better part of the last few weeks. Sienna and Trevor had set out decorations and put up a tree. He'd kept his distance not really wanting to be underfoot nor was he looking forward to Trevor's kids coming home, not to mention he found holidays like these rather depressing. And to make things worse, he felt like he should get Trevor at least a little something for not beating him senseless or killing him during that incredibly rough first month together. Since he couldn't leave the house without Trevor knowing and in all reality, without the man himself, getting something for Trevor was proving to be rather difficult, but it was nothing his Ravenclaw mind couldn't overcome.

For the past week, the teen had locked himself in his room, surfacing only when his stomach announced it wanted food, or when Trevor dragged him out. A couple weeks ago, he had discovered a book on ancient ruins in Trevor's library and had instantly taken a liking to them, finding the theory behind them fascinating. It was only after a day or two of reading that he realized they could be incredibly useful and depending on what a person wanted to do with the ruins, not magic dependent. After a great internal debate on what he wanted to make, Julian figured that a way to unlock magically sealed doors would be a handy thing to have. The only downside was that it was now three days before Christmas and Julian still hadn't worked out how to get the ruins to do what he wanted, and it was starting to frustrate him. But he wasn't going to give up damn it! If he was going to do one thing right with his screwed up life this would be it, plus it had the added bonus of being something in is steadily growing arsenal that could be used in his quest for revenge on his mum's killer. That thought in mind, he flipped back through the ruins book, searching for that elusive piece of information that would tie everything together.


End file.
